Proud Eagle

I think every student has heard at least one horror story of some radical professor that turned their class into an indoctrination session. Students that hold apposing views are sometimes ridiculed for their beliefs. Other times professors will allow their idealogical bias to affect the grades they give students. So if a student sees a Che Guevara poster on the wall they will be inclined to think they may very well have such a biased teacher, and decide it is a good idea to suppress their real views in order to survive the coarse. (I would also note that for many people, being a Che Guevar

Thank you all for the replies. I knew someone would have some good information if I asked around. I think I also got a good reply from my Lodge Adviser. He told me I needed to call the office in TX and talk to the OA secretary to find the information I am seeking. (Though I wonder if he is referring to the secretary in the office, or if he was thinking of the old term for the OA directer.) That does sound like it would be the most efficient method of inquiring about availability of slots in the programs. Oh, and I did finally get the PM. Apparently Yahoo decided to dump it in th

While I thank you both for the links, I am afraid I have already checked both of those locations. I may have missed something, but I did not find what I was looking for. What I really need is probably a telephone number (and a name to go with it), or perhaps an email address. I know I could contact the camps, but it is my understanding that registration is handled through the national OA office in Texas. While additional information on the programs themselves would also be very useful, it would be most helpful to determine if participation is still possible this year or not before seek

College students are more likely to vote than what other group? The average American perhaps, well that isn't anything to be proud of. Most college students don't vote. Most college graduates don't vote. Most college drop outs don't vote. Most people don't vote. So saying that college students vote more often than some other group, and therefore the outcome of national elections is a good gage of the presence, or absence, of a political bias on campus is beyond absurd. Of coarse, I believe it was Churchill that said something along the lines that if a man wasn't a socialis

According to the OA website, they will continue accepting applications until all slots are filled. They begin notifying accepted applicants on May 14th, and continue on as long as slots remain available. In the past I have talked with some people that have been involved with these programs, and generally they said there are at least some slots that are not filled at all. This is particularly true with Wilderness Voyage, as it seems to be less popular than Trail Crew. Obviously it would be best to send in applications and deposits as early as possible to make certain there is space

If any Scout honestly thinks that wearing the patch qualifies as actively serving, they are an idiot beyond any hope of self improvement. If on the other hand they have seen other Scouts get away with doing nothing, and therefore think that justifies their own attempt at getting by without doing anything, then they posses a wide array of undesirable attributes, some of which are contrary to the Scout Oath and Law. By the time some one is going up for a Star, Life, or Eagle BOR they must know that these positions require carrying out some responsibility of some sort. If they are unce

I know many counselors that won't give credit for old work after certain period of inactivity. If the person is actually taking that long to complete the badge, sure that is one thing. However, if they completely stop working on the badge, and then later decide to start again, I have heard of many people that will refuse to give credit for the old work. Most I have heard use either a six month or one year time period. Is this official BSA policy? Most certainly not. Is there any way to make a merit badge counselor sign off on something if they don't want to? Again, no. Shou

I happen to know of some individuals that have recently become interested in these programs this year. However, there is some concern that by the time an application could be approved by the lodge adviser and scout executive, and then mailed to the national office, and then confirmation mailed back to the individuals, that it would be very difficult to make the various arrangements necessary to actually be able to attend. (Obviously this assumes all the slots are not yet taken. Though I have been told they usually operate bellow maximum capacity.) My question then is who should be cont

I happen to know of some individuals that have recently become interested in these programs this year. However, there is some concern that by the time an application could be approved by the lodge adviser and scout executive, and then mailed to the national office, and then confirmation mailed back to the individuals, that it would be very difficult to make the various arrangements necessary to actually be able to attend. (Obviously this assumes all the slots are not yet taken. Though I have been told they usually operate bellow maximum capacity.) My question then is who should be cont

Reminds me of the new priest using the palm pilot for his homily notes. It was a pretty good idea, especially since he moved around the congregation during the homily to keep everyone more engaged. The only problem was he would occasionally have to pause, pull out the stylus, and page down a bit. It killed the flow of it, but oh well. I am afraid my troop doesn't sing or recite anything around the fire. We used to tell stories, but that has also died out. I don't even think I know anything to use any more. The best thing I know off hand I am afraid I couldn't use around a troop camp

Adults don't wear patrol patches on the uniform for their troop/pack/district/crew/council/ect. uniform. However, if an adult still has a uniform rigged as their Wood Badge uniform, it is perfectly fine to have a patrol patch on that. I know a couple of people in my council that never reconfigured their wood badge shirts, and instead keep them for periodic wear to wood badge reunions, or just for when the run out of other clean uniforms. This works particularly well in our council, since there is a Wood Badge council strip.

It would be far easier to ask them to print a copy of the records off of the Scout Net system. This will show what has been entered into each individuals records. If everything checks out on these, that means they almost certainly received the original advancement report, and likely still have it on file. If there is a problem, then you need to start using the paper records to sort them out. Just find out what the computer says before you ask someone to start digging through paper files.

Wouldn't that be a matter of how you define what constitutes the BSA? What I am trying to say is, one person could consider the BSA to be only the national council, while another could define the BSA as being any part of the Boy Scouts of America, down to its individual members. Another possible point of contention would be the definition of "gets". Are we talking about currently receiving, or having received at some point in the past? After all, the Catholic Church once received $1000 from the federal government during the presidency of George Washington for the purpose of buildin

I went to the old museum in Murray once during an OA lodge event. I liked the museum, but the facilities it was in could have used some work, and there was little room for growth. Also, Murray isn't exactly the easiest place in the world to get to. I seem to recall one of the major reasons for the move being a lack of continuing support from Murray State University (the old museum location) and the local community. Also, there were essentially offers of large amounts of money that would only become available if the museum moved to some different location. I seem to recall hearing that St.

I personally like both campfires and shows. I don't generally define one as a program with a fire and the other as one without. Usually a show has a different sort of program from a campfire. SR-6N usually does a show for conclave. NOAC has shows. Jambo more or less uses shows. When I think campfire I think of those attending actually participating in some portion of the program. I think of traditional stuff like camp songs, patrol skits, and things like that. When I think of shows, I think of those attending more or less sitting back to enjoy the program with only minimal part

Everyone is politically biased. (OK, every adult that has full mental facilities.) If anyone says otherwise they are lying. Now good journalists used to be the ones that were able to overcome their biases and report the news as completely, correctly, and fairly as possible. This also extended to editors and producers making the selections of what stories would be shown and how much time would be given to each. Did they always succeed? Certainly not, but they made the effort. However, things have changed quite a bit in journalism in the past few decades, just as they have in previ

This is funny... yet sad... and all because it is far too near to the truth.

Joint Army and Navy Basic War Plan--Red That was the post WWI/pre WWII plan for war with the United Kingdom. Since the US and UK were the two greatest naval powers of the time and one was a rising global power while the other was receding, it was not illogical, especially given differing political goals, that a scenario could occur that would lead to war between the US and UK. As part of that larger plan, War Plan Crimson called for the invasion of Canada. (Red being the UK, Crimson being Canada, Orange being Japan, and other colors assigned to other possible threats.) This was th

While I may not think it is a good idea to carry a sheath knife at all times, this is because I believe it is not usually the best tool for the job. However, that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with carrying a sheath knife. I might comment that those folding multi-tools with pliers are often far more of a tool than is needed for common camp tasks, such as cutting a piece of twine or string. Yet no one seems to care if someone has one of those. Sheath knives work just as well as a knife as any other knife. At times they are even better. The only down side is there is a slightly

The SPL should have a nice friendly chat with his assistant. The two of them should discuss who is in charge, what each is responisble for, and such. If at the end of the chat the ASPL still isn't part of the solution, then he is part of the problem and must be asked to step down.

The SPL should have a nice friendly chat with his assistant. The two of them should discuss who is in charge, what each is responisble for, and such. If at the end of the chat the ASPL still isn't part of the solution, then he is part of the problem and must be asked to step down.

The fact that it is on a military base has little to do with the 50 mile rule. If they can't have visitors, then they can't have visitors, it doesn't matter how far from the base they are camped. As to visitors being in activity areas, I agree, they need to stay out of those that are for participants only. That being said, they don't really do a very good job of indicating what activities and areas are participant only and which ones are open to anyone. I still think visiting Jambo should be encouraged, not discouraged (provided that Jambo is open to visitors in the first place).

Often times you will find at least a few activities that don't bother checking to see if everyone is a participant. Really it comes down to how diligent and observant the staff is in that area. I must say I wish the staff would do a better job of keeping visitors out of the participant only activities. The lines for many activities can easily be such that you spend many times longer waiting than in actually doing the activity. Some areas are supposed to be open to visitors. It would be easy to spend one day doing just those things, particularly if it is the day of one of the shows.

Nuremberg proved that just following orders is no excuse. It didn't work for the Nazis, and it shouldn't work for some American prison guards either. In any case, I am willing to bet we won't find orders telling these guards to do this, because there were probably never any written orders. There may or may not have been verbal orders, but I would be willing to bet there were never any true orders. There may have been suggestions, or hints, or other means used to communicate to these guards that certain actions might be useful, but the persons making those suggestions were probably

Not to further muddle the issue, but investigations have shown that the Maine probably exploded due to an on board accident, involving a fire in a coal bunker if I remember correctly. While it isn't really possible to prove this beyond any doubt, it now appears to be the most likely cause of the explosion. As to the War of 1812, that was a bit of a mess to say the least. The US claim was that the British were responsible because of various policies including the impression of US sailors (the British even refused to acknowledge that most of them were in fact US citizens), and the occas